The Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) is advancing in its investigation into alleged corruption at the Ministry of Health and Social Services.
The Namibian understands that a former medicine supplier to the ministry, a relative and former executive director were ordered to surrender their passports to the ACC as part of the investigation.
The investigation involves a potential web of corruption involving medical tenders, suppliers and senior officials.
Sources say ACC officials have frequently visited the Ministry of Health and Social Services in recent months.
“Three people have been ordered to surrender their passports to the ACC,” another source says.
According to people familiar with this matter, there is a list of people and companies being investigated, as well as transactions involving N$600 million.
ACC spokesperson Josefina Nghituwamata yesterday declined to comment.
“I don’t have any comments on this matter at the moment but I will update you when the time is right,” she said.
In 2020, former health minister Bernard Haufiku handed over files alleging ‘medicine rot’ involving inflated prices, theft and collusion between ministry staff and suppliers.
In 2016, the ACC arrested eight ministry staff members, including an accountant, nurses and cleaners for submitting over N$2 million in fraudulent overtime and lodging claims.
Most recently, on 18 June, current health minister Esperance Luvindao asked the ACC to probe an alleged medicine theft and importation syndicate operating within the ministry.
The investigation into the alleged corrupt practices at the health ministry comes at a time when president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah last week said her political administration intends to cut out middlemen when it comes to procuring medicine.
“We have commenced bilateral engagement with the governments of Egypt and India towards establishing a transparent procurement system that will enable the government to procure pharmaceuticals and supplies directly, and no longer through middlemen,” she said during the launch of the sixth National Development Plan in Windhoek.
She reiterated her anti-corruption message during her speech at the Eenhana Expo this week.
“We are too few to be poor. If we all work together with one heart, one mind, the sky will not even be the limit. Among other things, we must fight corruption. If corruption is allowed, it will compromise government efforts towards equitable service delivery, sustainable development and shared prosperity. Therefore, we must collectively find solutions to combat it, as it is detrimental to our economy,” she said.
The health ministry has long faced allegations of corruption, with some cases dating back years yet remaining unresolved.
In 2018, the ACC confiscated a shipment of Chinese medicine at the Walvis Bay port after it was found to be of poor quality and lacking import documentation.
The Namibia Medicines Regulatory Council rejected it after three out of nine samples failed tests. Over 1 300 boxes, each containing 500 tablets, were seized.
Nghituwamata yesterday said the investigation into this matter is still ongoing.
A 2023 Institute for Public Policy Research report and a Global Fund audit also flagged poor procurement planning and possible misappropriation of donor grants.
The reports say staff at the Ministry of Health and Social Services, a principal recipient for Global Fund grants in Namibia, diverted daily subsistence allowances from their intended recipients. About US$89 476 (approximately N$1.6 million) was misappropriated from programme bank accounts over 18 months.
In 2025, the Windhoek Observer said the health ministry burned N$54.8 million in questionable procurement deals, including emergency and direct awards that sidestepped regulations.
The Ministry of Finance in 2021 identified 84 doctors linked to a multi-million dollar fraud scandal through the Public Service Medical Aid Scheme (Psemas).
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